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Monday, May 8, 2017

When I first saw the original title of this recipe, EXTREMELY SOFT WHITE BREAD at Cookpad, I was like REALLY???

After baking and tasting these breads, I was REALLY!!!

These white sandwich breads are REALLY EXTREMELY SOFT!!!

Let me guess... Did you just say "REALLY???" Bet that you will bake it, taste it and may say "REALLY!!!" LOL!

Extreme Soft White Sandwich BreadIt's vegan!!! With NO eggs, NO butter and NO milk! And it's easy to handle!

I'm totally impressed!!!

Looking at the recipe closely, I have noticed that these breads are made with the most simplest ingredients... just water, bread flour, sugar, salt, oil and yeast. No eggs! No milk! No butter! It is 100% animal friendly, 100% vegan!!!

Nothing complicated here! Just combine all ingredients, knead and prove! Shaping the dough is easy too. Although the dough is moist and soft, it is stretchy making any sticky bits to be easily pulled off from my hands. So easy to handle that you can see in my video that I don't even need any flour to dust the dough, my rolling pin and my hands!

I'm impressed.Every slice of these breads is so well-risen, fluffy, feather-light soft!Extra delicious too with its slightly crusty top

Watch this video to see how I baked this impressive bread? You will see that these extremely soft breads are also extremely easy to bake. So easy that you might say "Really?" LOL!

I must apologize that my video is pretty bad at the beginning because it is dark and grey now in our going-to-winter mornings! So sad that this video is the best that I can present and hope that you don't mind.

Try baking these breads and tell me if you did said "Really?" and then "Really!!!" LOL!Here's the recipe that is adapted from Cookpad.The original Cookpad recipe makes one super huge bread that require 4 tsp dried yeast. After re-calculating the recipe proportionally to make two 10 x 20 cm loaves, I have noticed that the amount of dried yeast required is 3 1/2 tsp dried yeast which is pretty excessive to be incorporated into two standard bread loaves. So, I have reduced the amount of dried yeast added to 2 1/2 tsp and this amount has worked very well for me, producing these breads that are very well-risen and feather-light soft.Makes two 10 x 20 cm loaves410g water, lukewarm100g vegetable oil, preferably neutral tasting and smooth700g bread flour with 12% protein50g caster sugar5g salt2 1/2 tsp dried yeastextra oil or oil spray to brush or spray for greasing the loaf pansPlace all the ingredients in a breadmaker according to the order of the above list. Use the dough setting to knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic and allow the dough to prove for 1 hr or until doubled in size.If breadmaker is not available, kneading by electric mixer with a dough hook is possible. Using an electric mixer with low mixing speed, mix all dough ingredients to form a dough first. Keep kneading for 15-30 mins or until the dough is smooth and elastic. This dough will be very stretchy and elastic and should be ready if it passes the window panel stretch. Transfer dough into a large bowl and cover it with a cling wrap. Allow the dough to rise in a warm and humid place for about 1 hr or until doubled in size.Grease loaf pans with extra oil or cooking oil spray.To shape, divide dough into two and further divide each half into 3 portions and shape each into balls. Allow them to rest at room temperature for about 10 mins.Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll each portion into long and flat oval shape (about 20 cm) on a lightly floured non-stick surface. Use your fingers to pick one shorter side of the dough and tuck and roll the dough like a Swiss roll. Use the rolling pin to flatten and roll the dough into a long rod shape. Then, pick one shorter side of the dough and roll it like a Swiss roll again. Repeat this rolling step with the remaining portions of dough.Place three of the shaped dough with their seams side down into the each prepared pan. Press the top of the dough lightly to form an even surface. Allow the loaves to prove for another 1 hr or until the dough is going to reach the maximum height of the loaf pans.Preheat oven at 180°C. Bake at 180°C for 23-25 mins or until thoroughly baked. If the tops of the breads turn brown too quickly, cover the tops loosely with a foil for the last 10 mins of bake and bake the breads for at least 22 mins or until their insides are completely baked.When the bread is removed from the oven, unmould the bread immediately. Transfer bread on a wire rack to cool it completely.Slice and serve.Happy Baking

Hi Zoe, I live in Melb too and the current weather is not exactly ideal to proof bread, can you share how you proof yours in the oven, e.g. temperature and duration? Thanks in anticipation. I'll definitely try this bread.

Just wondering if you could just complete the whole process in the bread machine using their existing preset function for a basic bread. Or the additional kneading and shaping is required to achieve the same results?

Hi, Technically and theoretically YES that you can knead and bake this recipe in your breadmaker but I prefer not to commit by saying entirely YES because different breadmaker has different capacity and settings and won't know which amount or functions to use for yours. I'm sorry to say that you will have to optimise the recipe further by yourself. Cheers!

Thanks Zoe for the recipe ! I tried the recipe for a Friend who is allergy to egg and milk. She love it! Just wondering if you have tried this recipe with wholemeal flour ? How should the proportion be?

Hi, Glad that you like this recipe. Yes, you can bake this bread with wholemeal flour but the texture of the wholemeal bread won't be obviously the same and also as good as the all- white breads. Due to my personal reasons, I'm sorry that I won't try to transform white bread recipes into wholemeal ones and guarantee any outcome unless I have well tested and tasted the recipes. Hope that you will understand. Cheers!

I usually put about one cup of whole grain flour with the rest white when I make this recipe. It makes it slightly less soft, which is kind of a blessing because it's SO soft that it's hard to cut and put spread on without tearing the bread. The first time I made it I tried to let it cool on my cast iron stove grates, and it sagged through!

Hi Ciera, coconut oil has a lot more saturated fat than most other oil and I don't think it is a good choice to use for baking this bread. You can try using canola oil, peanut oil, rice bran oil and many other neutral tasting oil instead.

I've made this recipe 3 times now, and it's amazing (the last time I didn't grease my pans well enough and I destroyed the looks of the loaves, but we had them with soup every night till they were gone!). My husband says this is the closest to the fabulous Cuban bread he remembers from our winters there and - even though he's far from a kid - he gives the recipe two thumbs up! (So do I, even though I prefer a more wholesome bread with a tough, chewy crust).

As I intend to bake bread, cakes etc for my toddler, is it possible to ask you whether it’s better to get a electric mixer or a breadmaker? I’m rather confused with getting a mixer or bread maker or food processor? For this receipe can I use extra light olive oil? You have so many wonderful recipes I would like to try for my toddler especially the ones that require very few ingredients and are very healthy!

Hi Joyce, To answer your questions... 1) You can use an electric mixer with a hook attachment or breadmaker for kneading dough. A breadmaker is temperature controlled but the electric mixer is not. You can use an electric mixer to mix cake and cookies dough but can't use a breadmaker to do that. 2) Please DO NOT use olive oil for high heat cooking and baking because it is heat sensitive. Besides, it won't taste very good in cakes and breads because it has a grassy taste. Olive oil is the best to use for making salad or low heat cooking. I hope that you would enjoy cooking and baking with my recipes. Cheers!